Wednesday, July 22, 2015

Although I went through and scanned every single card from the first pack of my 2015 Topps Allen & Ginter case, I'll be here until mid-November if I keep that up through the entire case. Plus, while the cards are still super new to everyone at the moment, it won't take long for Ginter-fever to subside. Therefore, rather than risking Ginter overload for everyone, I'll instead summarize a group of packs in each of my future posts (besides the Gint-a-Cuffs box of course but that's for a later date).

Box 1:

Packs 2 - 4:

The next trio of packs provided my first Cincinnati Reds card of the break (Johnny Cueto).

Of course, with Cueto's name linked to practically daily trade rumors, he might not even be a Red by the time you read this post!

In addition to the above base cards, I also landed another short print (Brett Gardner) but that wasn't the real prize of the base cards. No, to me the best base card is this one:

That's the Philae Probe - the comet lander who touched down on Comet 67P. Pretty cool - and I'm super happy to see that there are still some non-people cards in the Ginter base set!

My trio of minis weren't much to write home about - I had a regular back version of Justin Upton (but no one cares about the Padres). I also got a A&G back mini of Nelson Cruz - but the Mariners barely have any collectors as well so whoopdie do. The third mini redeemed the trio of packs though since it was my first mini insert of the case!

That's Ida McKinley from the First Ladies insert set. I like the design of the set - it's very much reminiscent of old time political posters! As a quick reminder, I want ALL YOUR MINI INSERTS including any of the First Ladies cards that you don't want. I hope to complete the entire collection of mini inserts this year (as well as all the full-sized insert sets)!

Moving on to the full-sized inserts, I pulled a pair of Starting Point cards (basically you get a short print or a Starting Point card in every pack - or least that is how it has gone through the first four packs).

As you can see from the back of the one card, you get a brief write-up of the player's MLB debut and then a bit about what else happened on that day. It's a nice enough design - and the write-ups are alright as well. Quite honestly, this is probably one of the better "large" insert sets that Topps has done for Ginter.

My other full-sized insert was a What Once Was Believed card of the Geocentric Solar System.

I've always been fascinated by science (and history) so this What Once Was Believed set is right up my alley. The image on this card is a bit odd (two Earths?) but it definitely fits the vibe of the set. Pretty cool stuff - and I can't wait until I have the full set put together!

Last, but certainly not least, we have our first hit of the box!

That's Aaron Paul - an actor best known for being in Breaking Bad I guess (I never watched Breaking Bad though so I don't know Paul at all). According to his IMDb page, he also starred in Need for Speed and had an appearance in Third Rock from the Sun (among tons of other roles)! I'm not chasing this year's relic set so this card will probably end up on the 'bay unless someone speaks up soon!

All told, I'm pretty happy with my first four packs of the case. Nothing Earth shattering yet but plenty of fun cards to collect. Let's hope the fun continues!

PS: Speaking of fun, I also found my first Ginter Code advertisement card. I'm thinking about putting some sort of serious effort into solving this year's code. Anyone else thinking about giving it a shot?